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A Hawke's Bay women has compared her pain of the flu to the agony of broken ribs.

Christine Nimon, 59, felt a little under the weather on the Monday as she headed into the doctor for a routine appointment, little did she know she would be knocked down with the flu for nine days.

Experiencing some minor chest pain she asked the nurse if she could get the doctor to listen to her chest to see if there was anything wrong. They asked her to come back the following day, but she was bedridden by then.

"I was so ill, I couldn't even get out of bed to go to the doctor," she says.

Nimon had a high temperature and says it felt like someone was sitting on her chest.

"Thank God for Facebook, I posted a little emoji online and had people post encouragement as well as drop some food off at my door."

"I'm so grateful, I wouldn't have starved, but I couldn't actually get out of bed to make myself any food."

"I'm glad none of them didn't come inside, because I wouldn't want to pass it on to anyone else."

Nimon opted to not have a flu jab this year, but after what she experienced, she's changed her mind.

"I don't think I'll fall into that trap again, I might just get it."

Nimon keeps a healthy lifestyle and says she never gets sick.

"This was a real shock for me, I'm a person that takes a lot of vitamin C and all the gear and I'm pretty fit. I was even reluctant to go to the doctor because I was nervous that I would pass it on to someone else, like an elderly person."

Once the unpredictable virus had left her system, Nimon says she felt lethargic and drowsy for a few days.

"I don't know what I would have done if it hadn't been for my friends, they really came to my aid."

"I'm a travelling saleswoman so I need to be up and at it, this really knocked me backwards for a while."

The flu has struck the region late this year and people with symptoms are being asked to go to pharmacies, doctors, medical centres or check with the Healthline to avoid clogging hospitals' Emergency Departments.

In the Hawke's Bay region 48,164 doses of flu vaccine have so far been distributed.

A Hawke's Bay District Health Board spokesperson said the numbers for the flu vaccine were still accumulating, but it was a positive result to see so many getting their jabs.